What is a family? That question is at the core of a zoning dispute that has roiled Hartford's West End in recent weeks, one that could — and should — result in a change in the city's zoning code.

The focal point is a large and elegant nine-bedroom brick mansion at 68 Scarborough St., a long block of stately homes between Asylum and Albany avenues.

The house had been empty for some time, but in August a group of people bought it and moved in. One of the residents described the arrangement as a group of longtime friends — eight adults and three children — coming together to live as a family. They share monthly expenses and take turns cooking dinner and doing other chores. The group consists of two couples with children, one couple with no children and two individuals. They work and are involved in the community, and appear to be perfectly nice people.

Neighbors concede as much, but say they are in violation of city zoning regulations for single-family homes. Those rules prohibit three or more unrelated people from living in the same dwelling, and defines family as those related by blood, marriage, civil union or legal adoption. A group of neighbors protested. City zoning officials filed a cease-and-desist against the home's owners about three weeks ago, saying the arrangement doesn't meet the city's definition of a family.

The owners have filed an appeal with the zoning board of appeals.

Great Street

It's hard not to be sympathetic with residents of Scarborough Street, a street the city should be proud of, both for its elegance and its marvelous diversity. Residents have had to fight over the years to protect the single-family character of the street, and are understandably concerned about prying open a door they fear might lead to boarding houses, fraternity houses or whatever.

The question is whether the city's definition of a family effectively protects the street. It is easy to envision situations where it would not. For example, if they met other requirements, the related members of an organized crime family or motorcycle gang could move in — but, say, four or five unrelated clergy could not.

At least a half-dozen states have found traditional definitions of family such as Hartford's unconstitutional under their state constitutions. In the words of a New York court, "restricting occupancy of single-family housing based generally on the biological or legal relationships between its inhabitants bears no reasonable relationship to the goals of reducing parking and traffic problems, controlling population density and preventing noise and disturbance."

New York courts have focused more on the question of whether an unrelated group of people function as a family.

Zoning Code

Hartford is in the process of revising its zoning regulations, and needs to take a close look at this. The world has changed since the Ozzie and Harriet era when baby boomers were young. The birthrate is at an all-time low, The New York Times reported last year. There are fewer marriages and fewer women becoming mothers, and more nontraditional families. Zoning cannot live in the past if it is to be effective.

And as a practical matter, with smaller families now the norm, what's going to happen to these very big houses in Hartford and almost everywhere else if creative ways aren't found to use them?

There are ways to protect the character of Scarborough Street with a different zoning approach. Poughkeepsie, N.Y., offers an example. Under its zoning ordinance, a group of four or more unrelated people living in a single dwelling are presumed not to constitute the functional equivalent of a traditional family. But the group can rebut the presumption by showing the zoning administrator that it shares the entire house, lives and cooks together as a single housekeeping unit, shares household expenses, and is permanent and stable.